Storing wood?

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
Where do you store your wood for handles and in what?

Right now I have mine in a cabinet in the garage where I do my work. The temp and humidity fluctuate some. Should I be storing it in side, in a sealed container or does it matter?
 
I do the same thing. My thinking is that I don't want the wood to react unpredictably while I'm making the knife. From the time I cut the slabs to the time I mount them may be a few weeks. I want the wood normalized to the environment of my shop. 98 degrees with 240% humidity... Florida in the summertime! I keep all of my blocks in boxes in the shop.

Anxious to see what others say.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
John Wilson said:
.... 98 degrees with 240% humidity... Florida in the summertime! ....
Click to expand...

:biggrin: That SCUBA gear must double as eye and breathing protection - and the current would keep the dust down. I used to plastic food wrap blocks that I had dried for stabilizing so they wouldn't uptake moisture on the was to stabiling. Probably overkill, but I sure don't have your humidity problems to deal with.

Rob!
 
I think the best a knifemaker can do is allow nature materials to climatize within your own locale, and understand that with particular types of natural materials, there WILL be expansion and contraction issues based on where the knife is made, and where it ends up calling "home".

I'm on the other end of the scale here in Montana.... summer months average in the 20-30% humidity range, and often times in the single digits during the winter months. Stabilizing is an option to MINIMIZE the movement of natural materials, but its certainly not a "cure all".

Personally, I don't do anything special with storing natural material, beyond allowing them to climatize before use. Time and experience has taught me that you never know where one of your knives is going to end up, therefore its impossible to guess what the best course of action might be as far as storage is concerned.
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
I think the best a knifemaker can do is allow nature materials to climatize within your own locale, and understand that with particular types of natural materials, there WILL be expansion and contraction issues based on where the knife is made, and where it ends up calling "home".

I'm on the other end of the scale here in Montana.... summer months average in the 20-30% humidity range, and often times in the single digits during the winter months. Stabilizing is an option to MINIMIZE the movement of natural materials, but its certainly not a "cure all".


Personally, I don't do anything special with storing natural material, beyond allowing them to climatize before use. Time and experience has taught me that you never know where one of your knives is going to end up, therefore its impossible to guess what the best course of action might be as far as storage is concerned.
Click to expand...

I recently had some troubles because as I was trying to speed up the dry time on the truoil I placed my knives in a room with a dehumidifier and the scales shrunk. So I thought about storing my scales in a room with a dehumidifier to start with. I figured if they shrinking is worse than if it swells a little. This wood has been stabilized. Here in MO our humidity is really high even with the dehumidifier running it probably only gets down to 40%
 
Knifemaker.ca said:
:biggrin: That SCUBA gear must double as eye and breathing protection - and the current would keep the dust down. I used to plastic food wrap blocks that I had dried for stabilizing so they wouldn't uptake moisture on the was to stabiling. Probably overkill, but I sure don't have your humidity problems to deal with.

Rob!
Click to expand...

The scuba gear sure does help! My son threw a frisbee in the air and it got stuck. Since I already had the gear on I was able to swim over and get it.

I did have an issue on an early knife. I used unstabilized olive wood and after about a week the tang was proud. I debated on leaving it but it was a little too much for me so I ground the tang to flush. I let the knife set for another few weeks and the scales didn't shrink any more or re-expand. I shipped the knife and six months later the owner has never said anything.

I've been using Tru Oil for a while now and I'm thinking the sealing nature of it may be helping to prevent the scales from taking up or losing moisture.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
I keep almost all of my handle material stock in a giant dehumidifier/drying chamber called my shop. (Phoenix AZ area, typical humidity around 10% or less)
I store it in a milk crate on the shelf. Some of it I keep wrapped in bubble wrap or foam padding, but I never seal it completely. Raw wood, stabilized wood, oiled wood, etc. it all goes on the shelf in the shop. I want it cured and shrunk (two years worth) before I ever start working it. Most of my raw wood handles get "stabilized" somehow, be it with an acrylic, oil, or some other kind of "sticky stuff".....by putting it in a vacuum chamber while submerged in the stabilizing agent.
 
John Wilson said:
The scuba gear sure does help! My son threw a frisbee in the air and it got stuck. Since I already had the gear on I was able to swim over and get it.

I did have an issue on an early knife. I used unstabilized olive wood and after about a week the tang was proud. I debated on leaving it but it was a little too much for me so I ground the tang to flush. I let the knife set for another few weeks and the scales didn't shrink any more or re-expand. I shipped the knife and six months later the owner has never said anything.

I've been using Tru Oil for a while now and I'm thinking the sealing nature of it may be helping to prevent the scales from taking up or losing moisture.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

that is one of the reasons the navy had a boot camp in Orlando. we were all good swimmers after 9 weeks of practice.
i keep all of my wood in my shed and shop.
 
Scott, when were you there? I went through Navy boot camp in Orlando in 1991. Ah, yes, the smell of my sizzling hand flesh on the asphalt grinder in the summertime! If not for the humidity we'd have burst into flames!
 
About a year ago, I drove over to see if the base was still there. It's gone- erased. Like it was never there. Even the streets are gone. The VA hospital is still there on the far back side, but the school side of the base is underneath condos and I couldn't even recognize the RTC side. All of the streets have changed. They must have pulled up the sewers and everthing. I couldn't even get my bearings except for the retention ponds on the NTC side.
 
John Wilson said:
Scott, when were you there? I went through Navy boot camp in Orlando in 1991. Ah, yes, the smell of my sizzling hand flesh on the asphalt grinder in the summertime! If not for the humidity we'd have burst into flames!
Click to expand...

i was there in 1972. i had a clue about the weather, was living in georgia at the time, so i was there from March to early june. i retired in oct93.
 
I only thought Orlando was hot. The Navy sent me to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for about two years to teach me that I didn't know as much about heat as I thought I did. I was in Gitmo when you retired. Now, most of my friends are retiring. It's strange- some days it seems like yesterday, but other days it seems like I got out a lifetime ago- especially as I talk to my old friends who are now retiring and wondering what they are going to do next for the first time in 20-some years.

Back to the wood-

The only two pieces of unstabilized wood that I have had move enough to require correction have been some bird's eye maple and rosewood that I got from Woodcraft. I wonder if it had more to do with the age of the wood in those two samples?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top